The surfaces of portable articles such as smartphones can carry various infectious agents, such as bacteria and viruses. There are many known devices for sanitizing such articles. Most conventional sanitizing devices make use of these ultraviolet bulbs emitting light in the 254 nm wavelength range. For example, the PhoneSoap® is a consumer product used to disinfect smartphones (for example while charging the smartphone overnight). A user places their smartphone inside the single compartment of the PhoneSoap, and an ultraviolet bulb then disinfects the surfaces of the device over a period of time (e.g. 5 minutes).
Conventional sanitizing devices such as those mentioned above may not be suitable for some applications, such as scenarios in which larger numbers of articles are treated in a given time period, because their sanitation cycles impose excessive wear on the ultraviolet bulbs.